St. Philip’s College will no longer offer courses at Northeast Lakeview College after this semester.
This college, however, will continue to offer courses at Northeast Lakeview for the foreseeable future, President Robert Zeigler said.
Data provided by Sonia Valdez, this college’s coordinator of measurement and evaluation, shows that 1,352 San Antonio College students and 714 St. Philip’s students are taking classes at Northeast Lakeview. Northeast Lakeview College has 600 students of its own.
In an Oct. 14 mass PALS e-mail to St. Philip’s students taking classes at Northeast Lakeview sent by Dr. Eric Reno, president of Northeast Lakeview, students will have several options for continuing their education.
Northeast Lakeview cannot offer financial aid because it is not yet accredited, and one reason students enroll through this college and St. Philip’s is to receive aid.
If students want to continue receiving financial aid and stay at the Northeast Lakeview campus, Reno’s e-mail states, they can “enroll and attend classes at the St. Philip’s College main campus or its outreach locations” or continue to take classes at Northeast Lakeview through San Antonio College.
Students also can enroll through Northeast Lakeview but will they not receive financial aid.
When contacted by The Ranger Monday, Reno referred questions to the contents of his e-mail.
Dr. Adena Williams Loston, president of St. Philip’s College, said the college has had a long history with the Live Oak community, starting with a partnership with Judson Independent School District in 1993, which then expanded to the Northeast Learning Center in 1996 and the converted Albertsons in 2006.
“Our goal has always … been to provide programs for the northeast community,” she said in an interview Monday, adding that the duty is increasingly being taken over by Northeast Lakeview.
Zeigler said Oct. 21 that former Chancellor Robert Ramsay brought this college into the endeavor of servicing the Live Oak community in 2002.
Since then, this college has surpassed St. Philip’s enrollment at Northeast Lakeview.
Loston said Northeast Lakeview needs to slowly separate itself from the other colleges in pursuing accreditation, and because St. Philip’s has the lower enrollment of the two colleges, she agreed that St. Philip’s would be the college to go.
Zeigler and Reno both said they do not have a target date for separating this college’s classes from Northeast Lakeview.
Getting those St. Philip’s students where they want to go is a details game now, Zeigler said, and he will work with Northeast Lakeview and St. Philip’s in transferring students to this college who want to do so.
He said as students come closer to deciding what option to take, he will have a better idea of how many students will take classes at St. Philip’s main campus, how many will stay at Northeast Lakeview as students registered through this college and how many will become Northeast Lakeview students.
Dr. Debbie Hamilton, vice president of student success at Northeast Lakeview, said Thursday that the students who received Reno’s e-mail should be well-prepared for what they need to do.
Students can visit advisers at Northeast Lakeview, St. Philip’s or this college regardless of the option they choose, Hamilton said.
“It’s all about convenience for students,” she said.
Reno’s e-mail urges students to visit with advisers as soon as possible because early registration for spring starts Nov. 16.
Loston said this college will be mostly responsible for the handover of students from St. Philip’s to this college, but St. Philip’s will be closely involved to make the transition as smooth as possible.
“It’s the students’ call as to which option they decide to take,” Loston said.
The important consideration for St. Philip’s, she said, is to ensure students do not fall through the cracks by being caught off guard.
She advises students to visit with counselors, veterans’ benefits and financial aid offices to determine the best course of action.
Zeigler said department chairs at this college supervise the academic functions of the college's classes offered at Northeast Lakeview.
Faculty teaching classes at Northeast Lakeview for this college are mostly adjuncts, he said, some of whom also teach a class at this campus. Other professors are full-time faculty employed by Northeast Lakeview who take on a class for this college.
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